


0408 is Up to No Good

by Shut-Up-Ginger (Chameowmile)



Series: Fox Trains some Shinies [2]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Echo basically has the clone equivalent to a fake ID, Fox is partially convinced that he saw a ghost, Gen, Not as chaotic as the first installment but we'll get back to that don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29069625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chameowmile/pseuds/Shut-Up-Ginger
Summary: Following day one of Spec-Ops training, Fox is bombarded by a series of false intruder alarms, meanwhile Echo skulks about after curfew.These two events may or may not be related.
Series: Fox Trains some Shinies [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2123994
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	0408 is Up to No Good

**Author's Note:**

> I know a lot of one shot series aren't linear, but this one is, so to get a full idea of what's actually happening you'll have to start reading on part one, or YOLO it and just fill in the blanks lol

When Fox wakes, there’s only a bleary moment’s comprehension that his shinies have all run off, before his communicator is rattling away on the console, and making him forget all about it.

His head feels like it _is_ a bucket, and not just in one. All hollow and unpleasant.

The last dredges of a nightmare that he doesn't remember fade away, and he fumbles for the communicator to shut it up, before it can vibrate off the console altogether. 

He means to hang up, but gloved hands are never precise, so he ends up knocking it to the floor _and_ answering it all at the same time, which is the worst possible outcome as he scrambles to retrieve it. Meanwhile the caller continues on, completely oblivious to the chaos that he's caused. "You could say hello like a normal person.”

And he knows the voice. A _vod_ , but also definitely Rex. Because he's the only one who ever whispers like that on calls. Like he's actively waiting for seppies to find and decapitate him. Apparently though he just does it because he hates being overheard. A strange quirk in his boundaries that most _vod'e_ absolutely lack any concept of.

Fox narrows his eyes at the comm, debating whether or not to hang up anyway, but relents and finally picks it up. “Yes, but that wouldn’t be nearly as funny.” 

And the man snorts, soft and sleepy sounding. “Your voice is vocoded. Are you on a mission?”

“No. I’m just wearing my helmet.” And he turns on the holoprojector, to get get a good look at his brother one the other side of the galaxy. In his blacks on a cot, with his left arm in a sling, and some gauze on his cheek. He's probably in the med-tent.

“I heard Corries have comms in their helmets. So since _you're_ not talking through that, does that mean you have a second comm number besides this one?” He presses.

Fox scowls. “Yes, And you don’t get to know it.”

“I’ll ask Stone.”

“No you won't." He retorts, even though he can't really enforce that. "What'd you do to your arm?”

“Shattered my elbow during some turbulence in a tank.”

“ _Di'kut_. Are you benched?”

“For now." Rex lies back and silence settles for a few moments. Like he's about to fall asleep, with moths occasionally darting in and out of the holo frame. Eventually, he says, "Commander Tano thinks she can heal it, but she’s with the B unit right now, so I won’t see her until tomorrow.”

He scowls at that too-- but of course his _vod_ can't see him. “The force doesn’t give people anatomical knowledge, Rex. She’s not a doctor, don’t let her heal you.”

“It’s broken bones. Any idiot can put puzzle pieces back together." He retorts, giving a bitter smile, "Plus I'd rather not let them cut me open out here in the middle of a siege. We could be here for a few more months yet."

He tamps down the flash of guilt at that comment, and nods. “Fine, but when you can’t shoot a blaster anymore, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He rolls his eyes, but doesn’t argue. “What about you, _Ori’vod_? What’ve you been up to?”

“Training your _shinies_ , that’s what.”

“Oh, do I have another batch coming in?” He knits his brows, reaching for a datapad to his right, “I didn’t get that memo.”

"I was talking about your ARCs.”

“ _Oh_!” His face lights up. “You’re their instructor?”

“However unwillingly.”

“Did they do well though?” And he sounds so genuinely earnest that Fox can’t even bring himself to be rude.

“Yes, they did fine. _Too_ fine, actually. They beat their punishment round like it was nothing.”

“They do like running.”

“No, it wasn’t a run-- well, not the first one anyway.” He does consider the statement however. “It was a puzzle I never developed a solution to.”

“They tend to do that.” He muses, relaxing a bit. “What are you working on now?”

He takes in his scattered paperwork, restacking it all as neatly as he can, and making sure nothing is missing. “I have some forms to fill out for the chancellor.”

As in, they’re the chancellor’s forms that he was too lazy to fill out himself.

“Sure, sure. Do you usually fill out paperwork with your bucket and gloves on?”

“When I’m doing it out of the office, yes.” At which point he sets the holocomm down on top of the stack, and picks them all up together. “I’m in the salle.”

“Reminds me why I could never be a Corrie. Too much paperwork getting in the way of the fun stuff."

“I much prefer forms over training shinies.”

“Yeah, well you're the only one. If we can’t fix the elbow, I’ll probably take over drill for a while when I get back.”

At least he has a potential replacement in all of this. “Sure. Now is there a reason that you called?” 

“I don’t need a reason to call. I’m not Cody.”

And he chuffs a laugh at that, but it probably isn’t detectable through the duel filter of his helmet, and the communicator. “I suppose that’s true. But you know I’m busy.”

“Yeah, and if all we did was wait for everybody to not be busy before we called them, then we’d never talk-- so you're not getting out of this that easily.”

“Feeling existential today, _Vod’ika_?”

“No more than usual.” 

He wonders what caused the tank to throw him around today.

\--

Echo is up to no good. Fives knows it like he knows how to breathe. Because Echo is _usually_ up to no good. And the minute you take your eyes off of him is the minute that he finally strikes.

And that’s hardly anything new. Because although Fives is the reckless one, it’s Echo who gets into far more mischief. He just doesn’t get caught, so it’s usually a lot more subtle.

Which is why he isn’t surprised at all to wake up in the barracks later that night and find his _vod_ gone. Maybe exploring, or maybe just trying to buy some of the better rations before they sell out for the day.

And he resists the urge to go out looking for him, because it’s always when _he_ intervenes that they get caught and scolded for sneaking about.

So he remains in bed, trying to force himself to sleep, but failing miserably because although he _hates_ to be the sentimental one, it really does feel like a part of your heart is missing when your batchmates aren’t close by. He doesn't know how the command-classers tolerate being split up like they all are.

And maybe that’s just the loss of Domino squad talking, but death isn’t a stranger to them. In fact, they’ve been conditioned since birth to see it as an inevitability, sooner rather than later. So usually that manifests in the paranoia that every time somebody leaves, it's the last time you'll ever see them.

But Echo’s fine. He might be getting into trouble, but he’s not in danger. This building is probably the most secure place in all of the Republic. 

\--

Fox feels like he’s being pranked. Or at the very least going crazy. Because in the span of one hour he’s had four separate movement alarms in various locations throughout the building-- with _none_ actually revealing anything on the cameras.

No mouse droids, no senators, no _vod_ , no nothing. And usually that means a security breech, but his _guards_ are still walking through. Their passkeys just disable the alarms.

Rex must notice his flinch on the _fifth_ alarm, sitting at his desk with a scowl on his face, and again finding nothing of note.

“Everything okay?”

“Fine.”

But truly it’s not, because this could be a symptom of a slicer trying to access their security, or a false alarm meant to distract them while the real break-in occurs somewhere e;se.

He stands then, and tells Rex who’s watching closely now, “I forgot some of my paperwork in the salle.”

“No you didn’t--what's going on--?” but his brother’s complaint falls on deaf ears, because he's already halfway out the door before he finishes. Jamming his bucket back onto his head, and deciding to do a security walk of his own.

At that moment, one of the silent alarms trip in the records library, which is a good sign that there really is somebody here. Because those sensors aren’t wired into a matrix like the cameras are, and they can't be remotely triggered. Requiring a bioscan to actually set them off.

He arrives in the hall of knowledge. Readying his comm in case he needs backup, and approaches the door to the records room. It could just be a senator up past curfew, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

But before he can open it, the door opens on its own, and out sneaks a _vod_ , who only notices him after a moment-- and barely seems surprised. Eyes widening a little, before going back to normal.

He gives a goofy smile and salutes, “Sir.”

He’s younger, has no identifiable marks or tattoos, and is dressed in blacks, which means he's most likely off-shift.

But he definitely isn’t acting like he’s not supposed to be here, and that makes him second guess himself.

“What’s your business down here?”

“Testing the security system.” He replies, fluid and casual. _Too_ casual. Like he’s rehearsed it. “I was told to see how long it would take before somebody responded.”

“By who?”

“The commander.”

“Which one?”

“Fox.”

And yeah, he’s _deep_ in the lie now-- or maybe he isn't. Did Fox schedule a security check today?

But no, of course he didn't, because this kid is clearly oblivious to who he’s talking to, which is...odd. Because if he were a changeling disguised as a _vod_ , then he’d’ve done his research about the hierarchy here. And if he were just a _vod_ up to no good, he’d know who Fox was on basic principle.

“When did you speak to Fox?”

And worry knits his brows now, but it's again impressively brief.

“Just a bit ago.” He answers, resuming that casual smoothness. “Does it matter?”

“Not really, no.” He’s watching the kid’s eyes, “What’s your designation?”

"CT-0408.”

“And which unit are you in?”

He ponders that. A brief glance off to the side, but it’s fleeting. “5th fleet. Security division.”

“I see." Fox considers his next move, and settles on, "You’re dismissed.”

But really he isn’t, because Fox is gonna keep an eye on him. 

Or at least, that’s what he tells himself. Because as soon as the kid is out of his sight, he's gone for good. Left without a trace.

And when he checks the cameras for this wing, there is, again, no sign of him.

So yes, something is going on here, and unless he trips another alarm, there’s no knowing where he’s headed.

\--

Fives is on the cusp of sleep when Echo suddenly reappears in the room, sneaking under the blankets with him, and whispering right up close, “They have a clone database here.”

Which earns him little more than an incoherent mumble, because honestly, Fives doesn't care right now.

This earns him a quiet snarl of offense. “You don’t get it--!” But whatever he was going to say is interrupted when the door suddenly flies open, making him yelp.

So yeah, idiot's definitely gotten himself into trouble with his wandering, and ducks down to hide under the blankets. Fives sitting up in turn, scrubbing at bleary eyes, and opening them just in time for the lights to flash on, painful and jarring.

Whoever's here clearly isn’t looking for Echo though, because they only seem interested in the group as a whole.

“ _Jate Vaar’tur_ !” One _vod_ says, Even as a second continues, “ _Su cuy’gar_!”

And as his eyes adjust, he notices how disconcertingly identical they are.

Which is a given, yes, they’re clones. But when _you're_ a clone , and have spent your entire _life_ around clones, the differences tend to stick out a little-- and these two have all the same ones.

Split-cells. Twins.

Normally one gets culled, but somehow these two made it out the pod together.

They’re wearing dress grays, and have blue eyes that look a bit eerie. 

He's never liked blue eyes. They remind him of the Kaminoans, and he honestly hadn't known humans could have anything but _brown_ until he got deployed.

\--

Fox wants to tell Rex about his strange encounter when he returns to his office, alerting security to a possible breech on the way, and arriving to the sight of his _vod’ika_ fast asleep.

Still on holo, but dozing, with more of those moths fluttering about in the frame, which makes him wonder what sort of place the 501st is stationed at right now. It must at least be temperate, since he's not in thermal gear or shorts.

Fox doesn’t have the heart to hang up on him, so he just mutes the audio, and sits down to research 0408 in his own company. But there are a _lot_ of 0408's, and it's only as he searches through them all that one really catches his attention.

21-0408.

It turns out he’s actually a member of Domino squad, alongside Echo and Fives. But _unlike_ them, wasn’t transferred out of the squad into Torrent when they lost their team. He also doesn’t seem to have any mission reports to go alongside their deployments, and all of his notes are things like medical exams, which are automatically included, rather than ones manually entered, like character evaluations and training notes.

It has all the hallmarks of somebody who was sent for reconditioning and never came back. But 0408 isn't listed as deceased, or retired, and although his record is sparse as of late, it does list weekly appointments with what he assumes is a doctor, because he doesn't know who else you'd make appointments with.

He’ll have to do more digging.

But not right now, he has so much paperwork.

\--

The split-cell captains, Blue and Kevin, have been made their handlers for the morning. Presumably while the sergeant sleeps, though they haven’t actually mentioned him yet.

Fives would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little pissed at his brother for keeping him up all night, however inadvertently, and even Echo looks a little bit regretful about his jaunt, despite the fact that poor sleep has never really been a big detriment to his performance.

The bunkroom is rife with anxious energy now. With Richard trying to block out all the light on his face, possibly unaware of what's going on, while Vixen carries the expression of a throttled rabbit, and asks. “What’s going on?”

“Good question.” The one who he thinks is Blue says. Silver tattoos on his face, though they're hard to identify from this distance. “From this day onward, you’ll be folded in with the rest of our shock troopers. To help us out, and learn some advanced combat skills down in the lower levels. I’ll be taking three of you, Blue will have the remainder.” Okay...so not Blue then. Blue has the scar on his chin. “Get dressed, and we’ll pick teams from there.”

He sighs, but begrudgingly sits up to retrieve his boots. 

But then Blue, the actual one, glances over at him and Echo, and nudges his brother in the ribs, commenting, “Look, batchmates.”

And yeah, they’re getting split up.

Echo makes a noise of alarm.

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone's comments on this series have made my day  
> Thank you <3


End file.
